Palestinian Hate Speech: US & Israel Will Be Destroyed

Ahmad Bahr Hate SpeechOur friend Adi, better known as Ruby on Rails Guy sent me this frightening video of hate speech coming from the Acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmad Bahr. As an example, here is an excerpt:

America will be annihilated, while Islam will remain. The Muslims “will be victorious, if you are believers.” Oh Muslims, I guarantee you that the power of Allah is greater than America, by whom many are blinded today. Some people are blinded by the power of America. We say to them that with the might of Allah, with the might of His Messenger, and with the power of Allah, we are stronger than America and Israel.

Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, vanquish the Americans and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them.

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Dr. Wafa Sultan Rebukes Arab World on Al Jezeera

Dr. Wafa SultanThis is one of the most brilliant and courageous things I’ve ever seen. Thanks to Ruby on Rails Guy for sharing this in the comments of another post.

In 2006 Wafa Sultan was named to Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people “whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world.” They had this to say:

“Sultan’s influence flows from her willingness to express openly critical views on Islamic extremism that are widely shared but rarely aired by other Muslims.”

Sultan believes:

“The trouble with Islam is deeply rooted in its teachings. Islam is not only a religion. Islam (is) also a political ideology that preaches violence and applies its agenda by force.”

Personally, I would go so far as to say that Dr. Wafa Sultan is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever seen in my life. I would have no problem comparing her to Dr. Martin Luther King.
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Sell Your Soul, Get a Free DVD!

The Blasphemy ChallengeI’ve seen a lot of crazy things on the Internet, but this one just about takes the cake. A Web site called The Blasphemy Challenge has been set up to encourage people to publicly denounce the existence of God. And what do you get in return? A DVD that explains why there is no God.

Wow. That is just amazing. What’s more amazing is that YouTube is now flooded with video responses to this “challenge”. Among them I found the following from an Episcopal Priest, Father Matthew Moretz, from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Yonkers. It has got to be one of the coolest video responses I’ve ever seen to anything on YouTube. Enjoy.
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Richard Dawkins: Good And Bad Reasons For Believing

Open LetterThe following is an open letter from activist atheist Dr. Richard Dawkins written to his daughter Juliet on her tenth birthday and published as the last entry in his book A Devil’s Chaplain.

The topic of this letter is Good and Bad Reasons for Believing, and the short summary would be that Dr. Dawkins advocates that his daughter (and presumably all of us since the letter is public) employ analytical reasoning whenever new information is presented.
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The Rules of Islamic Wife Beating

This is not meant to be offensive to anyone, but I found it educational to understand the depths of the Islamic religious basis for the status of women in society. So far as I am aware there is no similar religious teaching in Christianity, Buddhism, or other major religions – although I’m sure someone will correct me if that is not true.

Muslims in general may not bat an eye towards this philosophy, as it may be so ingrained into the culture so as not to be noticed, but I have to wonder how this edict works in the United States where spousal abuse is a crime and can land a man in jail.
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Dr. Richard Dawkins’ Controversial “The God Delusion” Speech

Richard DawkinsDr. Richard Dawkins, Oxford professor and author of The God Delusion, reads excerpts and answers questions at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia on October 23, 2006.

Dr. Dawkins is one of the most divisive figures in the evolution vs creationism debate mainly because his position tends to be offensive to believers. His position is that religion, and people who believe in God, do more harm than good.
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Egyptian Blogger Jailed for Insulting Islam

Abdel Kareem Nabil

Abdel Kareem Nabil

The next time you take your freedom of speech for granted just think about the alternative. A young man in Egypt has been sentenced to 4 years in jail for “criticizing the President and Islam”.

Half of all Americans would be in jail if it were illegal here…

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters)

An Alexandria court convicted an Egyptian blogger Thursday for insulting both Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced him to four years in jail over his writings on the Internet.
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Does God Exist?

Creation of ManI’ve searched the annals (he, he… he said anal) of the Internet to find the two greatest video arguments I could find, one for the existance of a supreme diety, one against.

In the end, at least to me, it all seems to boil down to a simple philosophical decision. Is it possible that everything known to mankind simply exists? Or is an explanation required as to why?
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Athiest Banned from YouTube

Nick GisburneReligion is one of those topics I normally don’t want to touch with a 10 foot pole. I’ve found that no one ever agrees when it comes to this topic. Heck, I’ve seen Christians arguing with one another over the meaning of a particular passage of scripture, so you know no good can come of a debate with an Atheist.

Having said that, I was very disturbed to learn that some YouTube staffer decided to ban a member on religious grounds. Nick Gisburne, an outspoken member of the YouTube community recently posted a video comprised solely of a slide show of quotes taken from the Qur’an. All of the quotes deal with the negative aspects of being a non-believer – such as going to hell, being killed and burning for eternity.

Clearly this video illustrates just one side of the discussion, and I would imagine an appropriate Islamic response would have been a video depicting passages of love and peace from the same book. But no one had the chance to issue such a response.
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